ELAW partner Lottie Cunningham Wren, Director of the Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN), has called for ELAW's help bringing international attention to the crisis. Lottie, a Miskito attorney, is working with community members to end the conflict.

A press release from CEJUDHCAN states: "Indigenous Miskitos are fleeing from violent attacks by armed 'Colonos' (settlers) in North Nicaragua, crossing the Coco River into refugee communities in Honduras."

Lottle is calling on the government to enforce the law, while at the same time working with women and youth to restore watersheds that have been destroyed by settlers through an educational program advancing agroecology and watershed conservation.

In April, the Government of Nicaragua pulled a "no show" at public hearings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and also at a working meeting with Lottie and IACHR.

In October 2015, Lottie along with other organizations successfully petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take precautionary measures to halt the violence. But the Government of Nicaragua has not acted.

Lottie returned to Nicaragua this week from Honduras where she consulted with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.